This is often a very good symposium and worth the day. Check the topic and speaker list to find out if it is relevant to your interests. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think may be interested. Rue
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Australian study of fluoridation neurotoxicity: Streetlight Effect Fallacy
Researchers looked in the wrong place. Couldn’t find IQ loss that other studies found. In a classic Mutt & Jeff comic a drunk is crawling around on the ground under a streetlight, looking for his dropped coin. A cop asks, “Did you drop it here?” and the drunk replies “No, but the light is better here!” […]
Read MoreGroundwater: Ignore, and It Might Go Away
By Janny Choy and Geoff McGhee Groundwater is back in the spotlight. Largely invisible, lightly regulated and used by 85% of California’s population and much of the state’s $45 billion agriculture industry, groundwater is a crucial reserve that helps stave off catastrophe during drought periods like we’ve experienced over the past three years. Unheralded, Underregulated and Overused, […]
Read MoreSackett v. EPA: Health of American Waters Hangs in the Balance
October 3, 2022 Wetlands are inextricably connected to lakes and rivers and play a crucial role in maintaining water quality. It seems obvious that you can’t protect one without protecting the other, but the Supreme Court is questioning that wisdom in a case called Sackett v. EPA. The court could use the case to blow […]
Read MoreThe Fluoride Phosphate Connection
Dear Friends, IMPORTANT NOTE: The next status hearing for our federal TSCA lawsuit was originally scheduled for October 20th, however the Court has now pushed it back a week to Wednesday, October 26th at 3:30PM (US Pacific) / 6:30 (US Eastern). We will keep you updated as the hearing approaches and provide Zoom login information so you can watch from […]
Read MoreClover Flat Landfill: St. Helena mayor alleges wildfire and contamination risks at Napa Valley landfill
Marisa EndicottTHE PRESS DEMOCRATSeptember 23, 2022 The mayor of St. Helena is asking the Napa County District Attorney’s Office to step in and investigate wildfire and contamination risks at a Napa Valley landfill and another dumpsite run by the waste management company Upper Valley Disposal Service. In a consumer complaint, St. Helena Mayor Geoff Ellsworth, […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s water emergency: satisfying the thirst of almonds while the wells of the people that harvest them run dry
Chloe Sorvino Forbes Staff Sep 22, 2022, 06:30am EDT Broiling heat in the middle of the worst drought in 1,200 years has strained the state’s underground water supply, pitting the Central Valley’s $20 billion agriculture industry against many of its own workers. Nature has a way of telling people when their wells are running dry. […]
Read MoreToilets? Cannabis grows? Rising temps? We looked into theories and history behind the Bay Area algae bloom
Questions swirl as carcasses rot at Lake Merritt and beyond. We talked to experts and explored 100 years of local fish-kills. by Natalie Orenstein and Darwin BondGrahamSeptember 2, 2022 Scientists are hard at work trying to home in on the cause—or likely causes—of the algae bloom that’s led to mass death for marine life. Credit: Amir Aziz “Mystery epidemic kills […]
Read MoreGMO Mosquitoes: The Deception Drinking Game
What do GMO mosquitoes, GMO apples and GMO salmon have in common? One guy. Who happens to be a billionaire. Catch “GMO Mosquitoes: The Deception Drinking Game” on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/qHq3PjM-Cx4 This episode of Fork the System is part 1 of 2 in a series on the issue of GMO mosquitoes. How did a […]
Read MoreMapping Groundwater for Sustaining Water Supply
SmartWaterMagazine.com reports that as climate change increases extreme weather events, such as megadroughts, groundwater management is key for sustaining water supply. But current monitoring tools are either costly or insufficient for deeper aquifers, limiting our ability to monitor and practice sustainable management. Now, a new paper bridges seismology and hydrology with an application that uses seismometers […]
Read MoreThe Ins and Outs of the Inflation Reduction Act
What is the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)?The IRA bill is a massive $740 billion piece of legislation, funded primarily through increased corporate income taxes, to address issues like the national deficit, tackling the rising costs of prescription drugs, and shoring up the Internal Revenue Service’s enforcement capacity. It also provides Medicare with the ability to […]
Read MoreForest Research Links Carbon Uptake and Water Use
“Climate change ecology studies the interactions between climate change and natural ecosystems.” New research links the amount of carbon dioxide taken in by land ecosystems, such as forests, to the availability of water, which is in short supply during droughts. Our climate is rapidly warming with rising temperatures affecting the physical environments that support entire […]
Read MoreBeavers are Here!
Exciting news! Rangers Josh Crosbie and Keith Gray recently observed a beaver dam at Maxwell Farms Regional Park. Beavers are important “ecosystem engineers” that help create habitat for other species. Beavers are also a “keystone species,” which means they have a disproportionately positive influence on the species and environment around them. Beavers help sequester carbon […]
Read MoreVacaville can’t be held responsible for polluted water, court rules
A lawsuit accusing Vacaville of endangering its residents with tap water polluted with hexavalent chromium — the cancer-causing chemical made infamous in the film “Erin Brockovich” — was dismissed Friday by a federal appeals court, which said the city merely carried the water in its pipes and isn’t responsible for contamination caused by others. The city was […]
Read MoreCalifornia River Watch’s Response
River Watch chose to apply RCRA in the Vacaville case simply because the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) provided little protection for drinking water. The SDWA includes limits for only 94 water contaminants. The EPA has not added any chemicals to the list since 2006, and only added 4 chemicals between 1998 and 2006. In […]
Read MoreCalifornia’s drought means less water to go around. Who is winning the pursuit for water — and who is losing?
After three years of drought, the massive state and federal water projects that serve California’s cities and farms have less water to distribute, forcing water managers to increasingly ration supplies. This year, squeezed extra tight by the prolonged drought conditions, both the state and federal […]
Read MoreForest research links carbon uptake and water use
New research links the amount of carbon dioxide taken in by land ecosystems, such as forests, to the availability of water, which is in short supply during droughts. Our climate is rapidly warming with rising temperatures affecting the physical environments that support entire ecosystems. Humans and animal species both face daunting challenges for survival because of climate change. During […]
Read MoreThe Causes of Forest Fires: Climate vs. Logging
The timber industry and the U.S. Forest Service aggressively market the idea that reducing fuels through logging/thinning programs will result in a significant decrease in acreage burned, firefighting costs and the number of high-severity fires. However, it is climate/weather, not fuels, that drive all large wildfires. The factors responsible for all large wildfires are drought, low humidity, high temperatures and, most importantly, wind. If you have those ingredients […]
Read MoreWATER Institute Launches New California Process-Based Restoration Network
WATER Institute Co-Directors Kate Lundquist and Brock Dolman are excited to announce the initiation of the California Process-Based Restoration (Cal PBR) Network. The goals of the Cal PBR Network are to promote process-based (aka, beaver-based, ecological, low-tech, nature-based) restoration approaches to increase the capacity of degraded river and stream ecosystems to retain water, support biodiversity, […]
Read MoreLogging for Water
The day after an unseasonal June rain swelled the streams of the northern Sierra Nevada, Marily Woodhouse steered her 2003 Dodge Dakota through 65 miles of winding mountain roads near Mount Lassen. Woodhouse first traversed the area on horseback shortly after moving here 25 years ago. Back then, the land was lush with life, and its towering conifer forests furnished refreshingly cool air on days that were blistering hot beyond the canopy’s shade. Now, acre after acre of land of the Battle Creek Watershed is parched as far as the eye can see. Nonnative plants like […]
Read MoreIndustrial Logging, Forest Depletion, and Climate Change—The Ghost in the Machine
There are nearly 33 million acres of forested land in the State of California. Since the early days of European- American settlement, the wholesale destruction of our native, “old-growth” forests, and the overall depletion of the productive capacity of our forests, both public and private, have been the subject of debate and concern. Many may […]
Read MoreNASA Researchers Untangle Puzzling Patterns of Sinking and Rising Land To Monitor Underground Water Loss
By JET PROPULSION LABORATORY APRIL 9, 2022 Researchers have untangled puzzling patterns of sinking and rising land to pin down the underground locations where water is being pumped for irrigation. Scientists have produced a new method that holds the promise of improving groundwater management – critical to both life and agriculture in dry regions. The method sorts […]
Read MoreWaste Deep
Petaluma River Brims With ‘Fecal Bacteria’
The river winding through downtown Petaluma might be the city’s single most defining feature. The city’s annual rivertown revival festival features views of the river and, farther south, recreationists use the water for entertainment and exercise every day.
Yet, since 1975, the state has designated the water a contaminated water body due to excessive levels of bacteria tied to fecal […]
Read MoreScientists Believe Beavers Can Build Resilience In Northwest Waterways
They think returning beavers to our floodplains should be a part of our climate action plans. When beavers are allowed to do what beavers do, it’s good for us and the climate. That’s the conclusion of northwest researchers who are looking to improve water quality and curb our carbon output. Chris Jordan, biologist with NOAA’s northwest fisheries science center, co-authored a paper on how beavers should be a part of our climate action plan. He says […]
Read MoreSteven Donziger Walks Free After 993 Days Of ‘Completely Unjust’ Detention
“He should have never been detained for even one day,” said an Amnesty International official, “as it has been clear the whole process against him has been in retaliation for his human rights work that exposed corporate wrongdoings.” Jake Johnson,April 25, 2022 Human rights lawyer Steven Donziger walked free Monday after 993 days of detention […]
Read MoreSupreme Court Reinstates Rules Limiting Clean Water Act Protections
On April 6th, the Supreme Court reversed a 9th Circuit decision that limited the ability of states to protect rivers from the harmful effects of hydropower dams under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The rules adopted by the prior administration limited information available to the states, the time for review, and the scope of conditions that states can require in the licensing of […]
Read MoreWetlands–Endangered!
The fate of one critically endangered natural resource – our precious wetlands – could spell either failure or success for all that we do to protect clean water.
Without healthy wetlands, our clean water goals would be nearly impossible to achieve.
- We depend on wetlands to help buffer against […]
Forest Service tool spotlights connection between forests and water
Mar 23, 2022 Have you ever wondered where exactly your drinking water comes from? To help land managers and the public understand where their water comes from and what affects it, the USDA Forest Service launched an interactive map called Forests to Faucets 2.0. The map shows that forests are a critical link in providing […]
Read MoreHexavalent Chromium Maximum Contaminant Level
Notice of public workshops and opportunity for public comment on administrative draft of the proposedIn light of CRW’s legal action for high levels of hexavalent chromium in some municipal water, supporters for clean water may want to join the workshops either by Zoom using links below or in watch only mode using the link above Language Access. Tuesday, […]
Read MoreFluoride in Drinking Water Court Status Hearing
On Tuesday afternoon, the Federal Court in San Francisco held a status hearing for our lawsuit against the EPA. The hearing was brief, as the Judge reiterated his longstanding desire to wait until the National Toxicology Program (NTP) has published the final version of their review on fluoride’s neurotoxicity before continuing with the trial. The NTP communicated to the […]
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